The expansive roof of this seaside house in Cádiz, Spain, by Alberto Campo Baeza stretches out towards the shoreline like a flattened extension of the rugged terrain (+ slideshow).

VT House, also known as "house of the infinite", was conceived by Spanish architect Alberto Campo Baeza first and foremost as a piece of landscape architecture, with its architectural elements sunken underneath.

"We have erected a house as if it were a jetty facing out to sea," said the architect. "On this resoundingly horizontal plane, bare and denuded, we face out to the distant horizon."

The building comprises a bulky rectangular box, 20 metres wide and 36 metres deep, although the extensive upper terrace gives the impression that the structure is much larger.

Two storeys are housed beneath the rooftop plane. The front half of these floors emerges from the terrain to meet the beach, while the rear half was created by excavating 12 metres into the rock.

The entire structure was built from travertine stone, which Campo Baeza describes as a reference to Cádiz's Roman heritage.

"The Romans were there a handful of centuries ago," he explained. "Bolonia, the ruins of the Roman fishing factories where they produced garum and built temples to their gods, is just a stone's throw away."

"In their honour we have built our house, like an acropolis in stone, in Roman travertine," he added.

A monumental wall marks the boundary line between the landscape and the terrace. Beyond this, a swimming pool is sunken into the surface, while a grand staircase leads down inside the house.

The upper level of the building contains rooms dedicated to socialising, including a living room with a circular skylight overhead and a covered balcony in front. This leads through to a simple kitchen with a large dining area.

The lowest level accommodates a series of en-suite bedrooms, positioned on either side of a communal central space that leads straight out to the beach.

Nice but I wonder how he got through Spanish regulations. You are not allowed to build so close to the sea anymore, and you cannot avoid railings in the upper terrace (people falling). I can understand that the railings will be placed after the pictures have been taken, but not the other.

mitate

Siting it further back and higher up made most sense. A better sea view, and all that rock left as nature intended.

mrswoo

I was wondering about the lack of railings – that would certainly mean a closing order over here in the UK.

pepillo

That all depends who you know and how much you pay under the table, my lovely Spain.

ght

Regarding railings, it’s a private house not a public building. You don’t need them if you don’t want to. De Blas house still has no railings. The problem would probably appear if you want to insure the house. You would have to negotiate this with the insurance company.

Anne

Shame, shouldn’t be okay to build on the beach…. really bad integration.

TFO

The ghost of Case Malaparte lives on, but it never quite reaches the same quintessence. Perhaps the opulence here is actually a detractor from connecting to the elemental here.

André cast

Inspired in Continuous monument of Superstudio?

vktr

The site was much better without the building (regardless of its quality). It should not be allowed to build there and the architect should think twice before doing it. It may be legal if it is more than 100 metres away from the shoreline, but it is morally wrong to do it there. If more neighbours decide to build as well it will be the end for Bolonia.

Ghostdog

Some architects can work way above the zoning law.

papou

It is at least great architecture, and it respects the horizon and the setting much more than many other architectures…

Dave Carcamano

So incredibly boring.

Michele Pappagallo

I just do not understand. What is the sense in showing such minimal architecture without any rails, when you will be forced into using them afterwards by safety laws. Yes, Baeza got nice “pure” pics but it is simply unreal.
Nice usage of materials and color palette; despite the fact that we are extremely close to the water, almost by it, the villa really mimics the shore.

Fling

What an insult to landscape architecture; a clumsy, scaleless, and bombastic exhibitionism.

txema ybarra

Two facts: this beautiful house was built instead of another one, quite old (and ugly); the rails were taken out for the picture.